Welcome to another installment of AnonyMouse's App Pick of the Month. This month’s pick is WikiTrip – Travel Audio Guide, a location-based audio stories app powered by Wikipedia. I picked WikiTrip because it turns a road trip, commute, or even a simple walk into something more interesting in the moment, without needing you to sit there reading on your phone.
WikiTrip is built around movement. You start the app, then walk, drive, or ride, and it reads aloud the stories behind the places you pass. It finds nearby Wikipedia articles and reads them to you in a natural AI voice, and it uses an algorithm that chooses articles based on editorial quality, content length, and proximity.
If you’re curious about a specific spot, you can tap anywhere on the map to hear about that place instantly. You can also set your pace by adjusting the minimum distance and time between articles to match your journey. And if you like customizing how it sounds, WikiTrip includes 13 AI voices powered by OpenAI, along with support for 19 languages.
What really makes WikiTrip click for me is how easy it is to drop into. It’s a fun little entertainment source that gives me something interesting or fascinating right when I want it—on a road trip, on a walk, or whenever I’m just trying to make time pass a little better.
I also really like the “learning where I am” feeling about WikiTrip. I’ll be moving through an area and suddenly I’m hearing context I wouldn’t have looked up on my own. Road trips can be boring, and this gives me something to think about while I’m on the road, while still feeling relaxed and simple.
Another thing I appreciate about WikiTrip is being able to go back and review what I’ve heard later, because the app saves every article you listen to with a link to the full Wikipedia page. That makes it feel less like random trivia and more like a trail of little discoveries I can revisit later.
Why I’m Picking WikiTrip This Month
I’m picking WikiTrip this month because it makes travel time feel more engaging and turns “dead time” into something I actually enjoy. If you like learning bite-sized stories about the places around you while you’re moving, this is worth a download. If you prefer silence on the road or you don’t want location-based audio, it may not be for you.
Download the App
WikiTrip – Travel Audio Guide is available now on the App Store.
- Platform: iOS (iPhone)
- Price: Free
- App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wikitrip-travel-audio-guide/id1438931523
- AppleVis App Directory: https://applevis.com/apps/ios/travel/wikitrip-travel-audio-guide
- Podcast: https://www.applevis.com/podcasts/wikitrip-travel-audio-guide-voiceover-accessible-wikipedia-powered-audio-guide-road-trips
Now It’s Your Turn
Have you tried WikiTrip, or do you have another app that makes road trips and walks more fun? Tell me where you used it, what kind of stories you ended up hearing, and whether it made your time on the move more interesting.
Comments
Nice app
I've only used this app a couple of times but it is really nice - easy to use and just gives some interesting facts. I enjoyed your podcast and this write-up. It's added some new features I didn't know about which are pretty neat.
When I last used it, it used the spoken content voice on the phone. I presume now these ChatGPT voices are going to the cloud. I hope this doesn't mean the dev is going to suddenly find himself with a nasty AI bill. Much as I like these voices, I would prefer to use a local voice so the dev isn't getting charged for the free app as I suspect that might mean it doesn't stay free forever.
Anyway, thanks again for another interesting selection this month.
Like it but hate the voices
I really like the idea of this especially for long walks, but the AI voices are miserable. I hope the creator can find a way for users to choose whether they want to use an AI voice or not. I really hated how much that dragged the whole experience to a stop and then a slogging crawl when I can read so much faster with my own VO preferences.
Agreed
This application is quite educational. It was fun to learn the history of some of the locations in my city. I live in a city with roughly about a quarter of a million people, obviously not the largest city in the world, but it's a good sized metropolis all the same. However, this app would be so much better if we could, at the very least, speed up the speech rate of the provided voices. They seemingly take, for ever, to read an excerpt of a historical site, which can be frustrating at times.